1 November 2021
Mentoring programme for young people with complex medical needs to be trialled A Canterbury DHB Youth Advisory Council-designed mentoring programme for young people transitioning from paediatric to adult services will be trialled early next year. The Youth Transition Mentoring Programme was created to help young people with complex medical needs who see a lot of services, says Youth Advisory Council (YAC) CoChair Chelsea Skinner. “These are young people in levels 3 or 4 of transition which means they have a range of services, specialists and outside organisations involved in their care. Currently they’re not always that well supported in our system.” The mentoring programme involves a young person being matched with a volunteer youth mentor who catches up with them once every couple of weeks and does a fun activity such as going to the movies, bowling, or getting some food together. “The mentor may also help them From left, Canterbury DHB Youth Advisory Council Co-Chairs, Chelsea Skinner and Jasmine achieve a goal, such as writing a C.V. Irving, with a copy of the mentoring project proposal or going formal dress shopping. The purpose is to help them see a life “Our wonderful CEO Peter Bramley has decided to get outside of their health condition since so much of their life behind us on this project and we now have funding for the is focused around that. project. We are so grateful for a CEO who backs us. We “It’s all about improving the wellbeing of a young person and hopefully this will improve appointment attendance and treatment adherence.” Currently only levels 1 and 2 of the transition model provide support for young people transitioning from paediatrics to adult services. “We want to address this urgent need for some of our most vulnerable rangatahi,” she says. The mentoring programme was approved almost a year ago but was waiting funding for the trial to take place and there were delays due to COVID-19.
cannot tell you how incredibly excited we are,” Chelsea says. The mentoring programme will be a game-changer for many vulnerable rangatahi in the health system. It is hoped that the 12-week trial will begin in March 2022 and assess whether it can become a long-term initiative. YAC is a group of young people who have all had experience with the health system and are on a mission to make it better for everyone. If you want to know more about this project, check out the information evening Chelsea and Co-Chair Jasmine Irving hosted in this YouTube video here. 15
